A crazy day-
The last band competition was Saturday at Missu. It's a long drive, so the kids had to be at the school at 4 am. That means we woke up at 3. Delaney decided she wanted to go and the band director allowed it. I took them to the school but did not attend the competition. I had other exciting plans....
Steve suggested that, instead of coming home for a few hours, I should keep going on my adventure, maybe stop to have breakfast...The problem with that little idea was that I was driving to a small town about 2 hours away, yes, but NOTHING would be open in those small towns at that hour of the morning. I ended up driving all the way to Ava in the dark and sitting in a mc donald's parkinglot for 3 hours. Ok, so one thing to note: the Springfield Plateau is a real thing and dramatically drops off on hwy 14 on the way to Ava. (just sayin' it's kinda scary in the dark with deer hunters on your butt driving down that curvy road)
So, I arrived in plenty of time for "the most fabulous fabric auction ever" and got a great parking place. Ah, but so did hundreds of other people. Sigh.
So, this was an estate auction of a woman who died and left hundreds of yards of fabric behind. (she who dies with the most fabric... ends up having this sort of thing happen) Of course, it looked like all her other worldly goods was up for auction as well and they decided to start with that. I sat through the auctioning off all the crappy knic knacks, all the glass ware, the cooking stuff, the outdoor equipment, the furniture and even all the plastic bins she stored her fabric in.
I noticed a trend. Everything was being sold for WAY too much. Someone spent $20 on a box of 8 cat figures that were from the dollar store. Someone spent $8.00 on a plastic storage bin that costs $4 (on sale) from target. An old sewing machine (from the 70's) went for $150 when you can get them all day long off of craig's list for less than $50. And so it went, item after item, way over priced, but surely, when it came to women and fabric, they wouldn't be so stupid...
Ok, a bit of description may be needed here. The fabric stash took up 1/3 rd of the room. It was sorted into lots of 9 yds (roughly) and according to colors. Most of it was cotton, some was flannel, most were yardage but a few were fat quarters. These were placed on two columns of tables. around the edges were tables and shelving units filled with odds and ends. Things like bolts of fabric, polyester double knits, notebooks filled with patterns she collected, batting, pillow forms, fiber fleece, etc. There were some quilt tops, some just not bound and a very few finished quilts. Then there were sheets and stuff like that.
Looking at the fabric, I recognized some of the pieces (which is always fun) and, since I had spent so much time in the morning, I knew that Ava's walmart was one of the few that still sold fabric, I recognized that much of this stash came from Walmart and not from a quilt shop. I knew because I had bought some of that same fabric when our walmart was getting out of the fabric selling business. Fabrics have annual "lines" just as fashion does and some of these prints were probably 8 years old.
When the auctioning of the fabric began, the women went nuts. Pure and simple. The lots were selling for $27 and then started going up from there... $30 and beyond. Remember I said they were sorted into 9 yard lots and most were Walmart fabrics.... so, you can buy them RETAIL and brand new for $32 and get exactly what you want. Why would you spend this much at an auction when you are getting a couple pieces you like and some you don't? None of the fabric was old enough to be antique.
In addition... the quilts. Most were two pieces of fabric sewn together with a longarm. Just plain comforters really. The few "quilts" were very basic and one was made of polyester double knit. EGADS! There was only one I would have spent any money on at all, a pieced tumbling pyramid and even it had a questionable border around it.
So, In short, I spent 8 hours at an auction and I didn't get one single thing. It's hard for me to think of anything good coming from the day but I'll try.
It was interesting to see the Amish families there. I've never seen many in their black and gray dresses and their suspenders, hats and long beards. The daughter bought a wind up music figurine. I am not sure of the other group. The women wear long dresses, and their hair in a bun under a transparent cap. They all were wearing warm up jackets from walmart though. Not sure what the rules for dressing are for them.
There were two ladies I sat near some of the time that spent all day there and left as soon as the fabric bidding started. I am not sure why since neither one were quilters per se. One said she had made a couple of them, but never finished any. I sat by another quilter who likes to do it just as a hobby and specializes in making memorial quilts. I left before she did... I guess she was still hoping sanity would return. Obviously the transparent capped ladies were hoping for dress fabric. The man who kept buying all the plastic bins was interesting. He had badly dyed hair which was growing out.. so picture black hair with an inch worth of white roots and then a swatch of white where he missed dying in the back. I would have liked to have seen who bid on the giant cedar chest and how much it went for. It was over 5 ft long and 4 ft wide. It was plain but beautifully made. Other than that piece, there was no furniture of note.
I was so tired, cranky from not eating, mad about the stupidity of the people bidding and how I blew the whole day for nothing, I ate at Lamberts in Ozark, for the comfort food before driving the rest of the way home. I got home around 7:30 and no one was here so I fell into bed. I woke up at midnight and spoke briefly to the family before heading back to bed (after taking some meds for the cold I just got.)
Well, today I feel cheated somehow, with so much promise of additions to my stash without a single fabric scrap. I keep having this internal voice saying "online shopping" but I think I'll ignore it and work on the quilt I promised Steve's nephew. If I can kick the sore throat from the cold.
